Changing the Face of Dance & Disability

EDISON, NJ - In a special dance symposium commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Clement A. Price Institute is proud to present the AXIS Dance Company, one of the world’s leading and most innovative ensembles of dancers with and without disabilities. The symposium begins with a full performance by AXIS, co-presented by the Price Institute and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Tuesday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m.

AXIS Dance Company’s engagement by the Price Institute also includes two free community classes in New Jersey on physically integrated dance: Wednesday, Nov. 18, from 2:30-4:00 p.m., at the Paul Robeson Campus Center, Rutgers University-Newark in partnership with the Office of Student Life; and Thursday, Nov. 19, from 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Minnie B. Veal Recreation Center, Edison NJ, coordinated by the Alliance Center for Independence, a community-based organization that promotes independent living for people with disabilities in Middlesex County. The workshops are open to participants with and without disabilities.

Seen on So You Think You Can Dance! AXIS Dance Company has paved the way for physically integrated dance, and each year shares its cutting-edge artistic and education/outreach work with thousands of people all over the world.

AXIS exists to change the face of dance and disability. Founded in 1987, AXIS emerged at a time when the Disabilities Rights and Independent Living Movements were making strides and the dance community was beginning to open its doors to people with disabilities. Artistic Director Judith Smith has taken AXIS to new heights by collaborating with leading contemporary choreographers and composers, such as Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Meredith Monk and David Dorfman. With more than 75 works in its repertory, AXIS has toured major dance venues and festivals in more than 100 cities nationwide and in Europe and the Soviet Union.

"There is no more defiant a land that I can think of than AXIS,” declares Bill T. Jones, international renowned choreographer and MacArthur Fellow. “They showed me what dance could be."

The Symposium on Dance & Disability with the AXIS Dance Company is presented by the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, and is generously supported by: the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) ArtWorks program; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs; the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; the Cultural Programming Fund at Rutgers University-Newark; and a National Dance Project grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA).

For more information on the Price Institute’s public programs, please visit our website: ethnicity.rutgers.edu. For tickets to the November 17th AXIS dance concert at NJPAC, visit njpac.org. Use code 20CD for a 20% discount on ticket prices; Rutgers RUSH tickets will also be available for this performance.